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3.83 AVERAGE
3.83 AVERAGE
I loved the sci-fi time travel intertwined with life stories and especially Soviet life! Great book with unique twists.
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Blood, Antisemitism, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol
Minor: Homophobia, Pregnancy
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The Chernobyl nuclear meltdown is prevented through time travel. I read this book for the L.E. Phillips Memorial Library time themed reading challenge 2025.
If you can get past the premise that the title character singlehandedly invented nuclear power, designed the Chernobyl plant, and, oh yeah, a precision time machine to go back and prevent it all, it was a pretty good story of multiple generations of women dealing with the aftermath of the aforementioned. 3.5 stars rounded up.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
My first 5 star read of the year!
I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this one. I’m fascinated by time travel but this book blended science, historical fiction, family, legacy, and trauma in ways that I both wasn’t expecting and thoroughly enjoyed.
It’ll excite you, tug at your heartstrings, and perhaps boggle your mind a bit, but I’m going to be thinking about it for a long time!
I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this one. I’m fascinated by time travel but this book blended science, historical fiction, family, legacy, and trauma in ways that I both wasn’t expecting and thoroughly enjoyed.
It’ll excite you, tug at your heartstrings, and perhaps boggle your mind a bit, but I’m going to be thinking about it for a long time!
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Book Review….. Atomic Anna by Rachel Barenbaum
Three brilliant women.
1986
When Chernobyl’s reactor melts down, Anna Berkova, renowned nuclear scientist is thrown back in time. She lands in 1992 to her estranged daughter Molly shot in the chest. Molly begs her to go back in time to prevent the disaster and to save Molly's daughter Raisa, and put their family on a better path.
60s Philadelphia
Molly is coming of age as an adopted refusenik. Her family is full of secrets and a past they won’t share. With dreams of being an artist she finds peace in comic books and drawing her own comic Atomic Anna. When she meets. But when she meets the charming Viktor their romance will change the course of her whole life!
Two life-changing mistakes.
80s
Raisa, is a lonely teen and math prodigy, until a handsome boy moves in across the street and a woman shows up saying she is her grandmother. When Raisa finds issues of Atomic Anna, she notices each comic has an equation that leads to one impossible conclusion: time travel. And she finally understands what she has to do.
One chance to reset the future.
Atomic Anna is a fantasy and science fiction with a twist! It's based on the Chernobyl disaster. That was one of the reasons I was drawn to this book. I can't remember reading sci-fi that was based on a real life event. Obviously it's told from multiple points of view and timelines so there is a lot going on but the author brings all the layers together nicely. The main characters are very realistic. They have their flaws, emotions and personalities making it easy to like them. The book offers up a few genres coming of age, sci-fi historical fiction and thriller so it can appeal to a lot of different readers. But in the end it is about family and friendship bonds and sacrifice and redemption!
Thank you Grand Central Pub and Rachel Barenbaum for sharing this book with me!
Three brilliant women.
1986
When Chernobyl’s reactor melts down, Anna Berkova, renowned nuclear scientist is thrown back in time. She lands in 1992 to her estranged daughter Molly shot in the chest. Molly begs her to go back in time to prevent the disaster and to save Molly's daughter Raisa, and put their family on a better path.
60s Philadelphia
Molly is coming of age as an adopted refusenik. Her family is full of secrets and a past they won’t share. With dreams of being an artist she finds peace in comic books and drawing her own comic Atomic Anna. When she meets. But when she meets the charming Viktor their romance will change the course of her whole life!
Two life-changing mistakes.
80s
Raisa, is a lonely teen and math prodigy, until a handsome boy moves in across the street and a woman shows up saying she is her grandmother. When Raisa finds issues of Atomic Anna, she notices each comic has an equation that leads to one impossible conclusion: time travel. And she finally understands what she has to do.
One chance to reset the future.
Atomic Anna is a fantasy and science fiction with a twist! It's based on the Chernobyl disaster. That was one of the reasons I was drawn to this book. I can't remember reading sci-fi that was based on a real life event. Obviously it's told from multiple points of view and timelines so there is a lot going on but the author brings all the layers together nicely. The main characters are very realistic. They have their flaws, emotions and personalities making it easy to like them. The book offers up a few genres coming of age, sci-fi historical fiction and thriller so it can appeal to a lot of different readers. But in the end it is about family and friendship bonds and sacrifice and redemption!
Thank you Grand Central Pub and Rachel Barenbaum for sharing this book with me!
adventurous
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes